Original owner John Watkins reviewed occult books and was urged to start the shop by Russian mystic Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, who founded her own doctrine of theosophy, a forerunner of the philosophy behind Steiner schools.

When John died in 1947 the shop passed to his son Geoffrey and visitors have included famous English occultist Aleister Crowley and poet William Butler Yeats.

“I wasn’t sure about it at first, it’s a huge responsibility,” said Mr Ilfeld.

“It was very touch and go as to whether it would survive.”

The collapse of the Net Book Agreement, which forced booksellers to stick to retail prices, along with the growth of online shops like Amazon took its toll on Watkins.

But with plans to grow their own web presence, including YouTube videos, and to expand their stock to include subjects such as UFOs, Mr Ilfeld was hopeful about its future.

“People know they will get a quality experience when they come to the shop,” he said.

If it is still open in another 100 years, he will have been proven right.

Tim Bryers, 36, owner of his own antique map and book shop at 8 Cecil Court was delighted by the news, especially as he also runs the Court’s traders association.

“It was a big worry for us partly because of the historical association which no one wants to lose but also because we don’t want to have a range of empty units,” he said.

He also revealed that the original Foyles bookshop had opened in Cecil Court in 1904 and that John Watkins had lent the Foyles brothers money to pay their staff.